New Partners Join the Fun at Mud Mania: A Celebration of Adobe

Rancho Los Cerritos Historic Site announced, today, that two new partners are joining them for their popular annual summer event, Mud Mania: A Celebration of Adobeon Sunday, August, 16th. In addition to making real adobe bricks, constructing a mini-adobe home, and competing in mud relay races, staff from the El Dorado Nature Center and Signal Hill Petroleum will be on hand to provide new experiences for the hundreds of children and parents who attend.

Stefanie Gillett, Communications Specialist for Signal Hill Petroleum, explained that the company’s staff will be demonstrating how oil is found, extracted, and processed. “The oil industry uses many resources and scientific techniques to better understand the complex geology of the Earth’s crust,” she said. “We appreciate the opportunity to educate our youth, with a hands on approach, about how petroleum is a huge and necessary part of our everyday lives.”

Meaghan O’Neill, Supervising Park Naturalist for the City’s El Dorado Nature Center, was very excited to be invited to participate in Mud Mania. “We will be having a dirt exploration table, and be speaking with the visitors about the importance of soil to plants and animals,” she explained. “We will have two exploration bins filled with dirt, leaves and compost for guests to dig through and find the tiny critters that live in it, as well as books and educational materials on bugs and other decomposers that help create soil.”

Mud Mania: A Celebration of Adobe, is taking place on Sunday, August 16 from 12:30-4:30 p.m.. Admission is $7 for adults, and $5 for children ages 4-12. Kids 3 and under are free. Food will be available for purchase from the B&R Old Fashioned Burgers food truck.

Guests at Mud Mania are required to park in the overflow lot across from our entrance or on the street; carpooling is desirable. No more than six children per adult, please. Shoes are required, except in the mud pit, and guests are encouraged to wear old clothes and bring a towel plus a change of attire for the ride home. “De-mudding” stations will also be available for limited clean up; showers will not be available.

Credit: Rancho Los Cerritos.

About Rancho Los Cerritos:

Rancho Los Cerritos is located at 4600 Virginia Road in Long Beach. Built in 1844, the adobe home and grounds echo with the rich history of Spanish, Mexican, and American

California and with the families who helped transform Southern California from its ranching beginnings to the modern and urban society it is today. The two-story Monterey-style adobe is primarily furnished to reflect occupants and lifestyles from the 1860s-1880s. The site, a National, State and Long Beach Historic Landmark, also includes historic gardens and a research library and archives. The Rancho is operated by the Rancho Los Cerritos Foundation in private-public partnership with the City of Long Beach. For more information please call (562) 206-2040, or visit the website at www.rancholoscerritos.org and like us on Facebook atwww.facebook.com/rancholosc.